Is your business prepared for a disaster? According to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), 40% of small businesses do not reopen after a disaster. There are simple steps that you can take to make things easier to recover after a fire or water damage loss. Act quickly and follow these preventative tips from the Restoration Industry Association.
- If you had to leave your home or business for an extended period of time, what would you wish you had taken with you? What would you wish you had done?
- Inspect every area and assess its vulnerability to water. Water is almost always a factor in disasters, whether from fire suppression, roof damage, plumbing failures, or earth tremors, even when the damage originates on a higher floor. Nothing but furniture and durable equipment should be stored directly on the floor. Paper records and items are instant casualties.
- Desk and tabletops are vulnerable to water from sprinklers or runoff from higher floors as well as smoke and heat damage. Make sure important papers and files are put away.
- Take photos of each room in your house or apartment, save them to a CD or cloud storage, and print hard copies. Keep one set with you and one at an offsite location. This gives you a digital inventory of the major contents in your house and what they looked like prior to the damage.
- Back up your computers and keep the information where it’s easily accessible in an evacuation. This is particularly important for those who work from home.
- Businesses should maintain a moderate stock of emergency supplies. Tarps, wet vacuums, and absorbent towels provide some protection at a moderate cost. Rapid response is the key to damage control. The ability to swiftly deploy tarps over computers, production equipment, file cabinets, and other critical components can dramatically curtail the extent of the damage.
- If there is advance warning of impending problems, charge cell phones, laptops, etc. in case you’re without electricity for a few days.
If you do experience water damage in your business, we are the experts in disaster restoration with over 18 years of experience. Here are some examples of how we excel at getting Massachusetts and Rhode Island commercial properties back in business
This office building in Worcester County, MA was affected by water damage from a flood. Our technicians extracted standing water from the carpets, blocked office furniture to allow for drying, and set up drying equipment. All work was completed after business hours and the offices were back open for business the next day!
.png)
This apartment complex in Stoughton, MA suffered a basement flood from groundwater containing silt and mud after heavy rains impacted the Norfolk area. The crews extracted the standing black water, cleaned & sanitized the structures, and set up equipment to dry the building properly.
For more additional peace of mind that a disaster won't sink your business, ask about our Emergency Management Response Plan and let ServiceMaster Dynamic Cleaning ensure you have everything in place to get you back in business quickly.
